I am Japanese and I have seen many Japanese studying English. Generally, Japanese people are not good at speaking English. It took me a long time to be able to speak English fluently. I have found several reasons why speaking English is so difficult for Japanese people.

1.      In Japan, the majority of English teachers at school are not good at speaking English. They do not know how to teach speaking English to their students.

2.      The structure of English is extremely far from that of Japanese. There is a significant difference between them regarding not only their grammar but also their words, idioms, and pronunciations.

3.      Japanese are very weak in listening to sound of foreign language, because Japanese sound is quite simple. Please speak slowly when you talk with Japanese in English.

4.      Japanese study English grammar very diligently. However, they only study the grammar for reading: to understand paper having complicated structure. They do not know how to use their knowledge of the grammar for speaking English.

This time, I would like to focus on my method to improve speaking skills in foreign languages by using grammar textbook.

Keywords: sound of foreign language, use their knowledge of the grammar for speaking English

For studying a foreign language, I, at first, study its grammar, using one grammar textbook. I read, listen to, write (or type), and speak aloud sentences in the textbook over and over again. This is an effective way of studying and memorizing them, because each action uses different nervous routes to the brain. Many stimulations of the brain can lead to long-term memory for these sentences.

Keywords: study its grammar, read, listen to, write (or type), and speak aloud, long-term memory

Then, I try to make a sentence by using this grammar textbook. Suppose that I would like to say, “It is difficult for Japanese people to speak English, because English is very different from Japanese.” I would see the table of contents of the grammar textbook to find the most useful sentences to compose the sentence. Suppose that I found sentences below from the textbook:

“It is enjoyable for me to listen to classic music.”; and

“I did not take a class yesterday, because I was sick.”

If I do not find a good sentence, I will also use (online) dictionary to find another sentence:

“Reading skills are different from writing.”

Next, I would combine these sentences as follows: “It is enjoyable for me to listen to classic music, because reading skills are different from writing.”

Moreover, I would use dictionary and change some words and idioms: from “enjoyable,” “me,” “listen to,” “classic music,” “reading skills,” “are,” and “writing” to “difficult,” “Japanese people,” “speak,” “English,” “English,” “is,” and “Japanese,” respectively. Finally, I would add “very” before “different.”

Keywords: make a sentence by using this grammar textbook, the table of contents, use dictionary and change some words and idioms

This process requires the use of grammar textbook and dictionary. At first, it took a long time to make a sentence. I repeated this process to write and speak various sentences so that I would be able to write and speak fluently without using grammar textbook or dictionary in the end.

In fact, this method is also useful for studying math or other natural sciences. When I saw a math question, I saw the table of contents of a math textbook to find relevant formulae and adjusted and combined them to solve the question. This method will enable you to improve not only foreign language skills but also academic subjects.

Keywords: also useful for studying math or other natural sciences